


How to save the Universe 101

by Wrume1bicg



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Matt Holt, Demiromantic Pidge, F/F, F/M, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Post-Season/Series 06, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Mom Allura (Voltron), Space Uncle Coran (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-06-29 17:59:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15734550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrume1bicg/pseuds/Wrume1bicg
Summary: Distress call on a moon in the z-gamma quadrant call for the blue and red paladins to go in search of the source. Lance hears baby crying and runs off into the forest. Lance gets attacked by a giant armadillo/ pangolin with spikes. They end up scaring it off and lance hears a rustle in the bushes. Lance goes to check it out. Opaque white blob jumps out and bites his arm. Keith tries to pry it off lance and it bites keith too and recedes into the bushes. Lance pushes back leaves to reveal what looks like a living statue of a genderless baby made out of pink jello. The pick it up and bring it back to the ship. Turns out that it’s an baby Amalgama. A, thought to be extinct, species that only spawns once every 20,000 years. Made up of pure quintessence, the race was deemed extremely powerful and dangerous. So overtime majority of their kind have been killed off at a young age. Supposedly this is the last one of its kind. The paladins have been chosen to raise it, if not them it will die or become sickly and possibly be picked up by the galra and used as a weapon against them. Guess they’re keeping it then. What should they name it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am having total writers block rn. I tried taking a break from DEH and doing some Voltron and this was one of the results I'm halfway through chapter 2 of this and I'm suck... again. It's not that I don't know where I'm going, it's the whole "fleshing an idea out into writing" type thing. Although, hopefully I come out of this funk soon, because I'm really itching to do some hardcore writing. Maybe even some DBH or an original story. If anyone has any basic ship prompts/ ideas please let me know. Thank you SM and plz enjoy.

After finally having the real Shiro back and being betrayed by Lotor, team Voltron has been traveling, planet jumping in the lions. They sent a message out to Olkarion about the destruction of the castle and how they are traveling in hope of getting a new ship similar to the castle ship. Something that they can all travel in with the lions as they fly back to Earth. Maybe even one with a Teludav, if Coran, Allura, and the Olkari can figure out how to make a working one. It’s been more difficult traveling without the castle, for sure. The lions may be faster and smaller, but there is very little space overall, they are short on food, they must stop every night at a new planet to rest, and they stand out more than before if that’s even possible. Although, guess it is kind of hard to miss five robot lions hurtling through space.

In short, the Paladins are exhausted. So why are they answering this distress signal right now? And why did they have to send Lance and Keith? Why couldn’t have Shiro gone with Keith? Granted he did just wake up from being dead for a year or whatever, but then they wouldn’t have had to spend the extra time to shift Allura out of Blue and into the Black Lion with Shiro. Seriously, that’s just not fair. Lance had been nothing but a gentleman the whole time he was riding with Allura. That’s three days with no flirting or puns or even staring. A new lifetime record for Lance, excluding anything before he was thirteen. Not that he wasn’t a lady’s man then, but it was more than that, before acne hit, he used to let his looks do all of the talking. Literally, all he had to do was smile shyly and the ladies would come to him. No effort required. The good old days.

Of course, he has a lot of practice putting in the work since then. Flirting is a talent and, honestly, done all in good fun. He knows when not to push things with a girl. For example, Allura. The last thing she needs right now is his obnoxious flirting confusing her more than she already is. She’s been through a lot lately. The person she thought she loved betraying her for power and bringing her longtime crush and teammate back from the dead. Not to mention, that Shiro totally isn’t interested. Lance isn’t the best at reading people or picking up on things, but he would bet a lung and kidney that Shiro was gay. It’s like he can sense it, you know? Anyway, Allura is in a totally vulnerable state and Lance has a feeling that if he were to display any of his usual behaviorisms, that she might take him up on the offer.  Not that he wouldn’t LOVE to get up in that, but it wouldn’t be good for Allura or the team. Things would be really awkward afterwards. Besides, he prefers flirting with people who are unattainable and out of his league. It’s easier making a fool of yourself knowing to always expect rejection.

Although, none of that has made Allura bad company. In fact, she has been holding herself together rather well the past couple of days. Lance worries that either she is bottling it all in or that she is turning all her negative emotions into pure rage directed at life or both. All options are equally terrifying. The worst part is that she has been giving him strange glances, as if she knows something he doesn’t. The whole ordeal is terrifying and spending the night with Shiro in a cramped dark space, might not exactly be the best idea. He is worried about Allura. That’s all. He doesn’t have any issues with Keith or being on a planet alone with him. He has no problems with how cool and grizzled he has become lately. Maybe if Keith had stayed as the pilot of the Black Lion, no that still wouldn’t have- damn it.

“Lance?”

He jumps in his chair, clawing at the air.

“Lance? Come in.”

It’s just Keith over the coms, gosh. He needs to calm down. Pull it together Lance.

“Uh- Yeah?”

“You weren’t responding. Get your head in the game, this is serious-”

“I know it is, Mullet. No need to get your panties in a twist.”

Keith growls through his helmet. It’s a low rumble that sends shivers throughout Lances body.

“Just get ready to land. We are coming up on the coordinates Shiro sent us.”

“Read you loud and clear.”

They fly over to a clearing in the trees and land with a thud. He climbs out his Lion quickly to meet Keith on the planet's surface. He could tell from above that the planet was covered in trees but looking at it from the ground he is just now realizing how big the trees actually are. The majority of the trees have trunks as thick around as one of their Lion’s, if not thicker, and they all reach at least 200 feet tall, completely towering over them. Keith walks over to him pulling out a small mini holoprojector with a map of the planet on it.

“We are going to have to walk the rest of the way from here. I wish we could’ve gotten closer, but this is the only place anywhere near here that we could have landed safely.”

Lance nods and gestures forwards.

“Got it. Care to lead the way, map man?”

Keith rolls his eyes but proceeds in front of Lance into the forest. They navigate between the jungle plants and twisting tree roots for a good hour before Keith yells in frustration and pulls off to the side and punches a tree.

“Woah there, Keith, buddy, calm down. That tree never did anything to you.”

“We are going in circles.”

“What?”

“We have passed this tree six times.”

“Are you sure it was this tree? I mean, they all look just about the same to me.”

“Yes, Lance. I’m sure. After the second time I saw it I was suspicious, and I dropped a small marker next to tree on the ground.”

“A marker? Sharpie or Expo?”

Keith narrows his eyes.

“Not that kind of marker. It’s a place marker that I could have traced back to the Castle, but seeing as to the fact that the Castle’s gone they are pretty much just useless marbles now.”

“What? Where did you get them?!”

Lance stares at the small orbs,  jaw hanging slightly in shock. How come he didn’t get any? They could have been super helpful, you know, before the castle… um… KABLAMO...-ED...

“They were in the Castles equipment section. I found them shortly after we first moved in while I was looking around and I put a small bag into Red in case of emergency. I stumbled onto the bag when I was looking through what I had brought into the lion last night and I brought them with us today because I thought they could be helpful.”

“Okay, so you put a marker next to the tree and we are going in circles. Why don’t we just go a different direction?”

Keith scowls at him.

“I tried that.”

“Alright. Maybe we should head back-”

“Towards the lions? Yeah, I tried that too. And we ended up back here.”

“Oh.”

They continue to stand there in silence for a moment before Keith pulls out his map again.

“I’m going to try to figure out what’s going on.”

“Good plan. I’m just, gonna, uh, yeah…”

Lance walks over to rock a couple feet away and sits. Like, he can’t really do anything to help. He isn’t good at math, or mechanics, or directions. Seriously, he used to get lost on his way to the bathroom sometimes when they were living back in the Castle. And that was an enclosed spaceship. This is a whole planet covered in trees. He would probably only make things worse, so he’s just going to sit quietly and let Keith focus. Suddenly he hears a faint, familiar, high pitched cry in the distance. He stands up and turns to Keith.

“Did you hear that?”

“I didn’t hear anything, Lance. Be quiet, I’m trying to figure this out and you’re messing with my concentration.”

He hears the wail again, louder.

“You had to have heard it this time!”

“Lance, there isn’t anything there. Just sit back down.”

The cry fills the air once more and this time he recognizes it instantly. He turns in the direction heard it coming from and starts sprinting.

“LANCE!”

Keith’s voice yelling behind him fades as the cry gets louder, calling to him. He runs as fast as his feet can carry him, lunging over obstacles here and there like a pro, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Damn, where is it? The ground drops out from under him as the land drops and he loses his footing, falling down the side of cliff straight into a shallow pool of mud. Gross. He can’t hear the crying anymore.

“LANCE!”

He wipes the mud of his visor and glances back to the top of the hill, where Keith is looking around trying to find a way down as to where he won’t end up like Lance, face planted in the mud. Behind him, there is a deep grumble and a hot breath on the back of his neck. He turns his head to see a giant fanged armadillo towering over him.

“Hi. Don’t suppose you know how to get to a crashed ship sending out a distress signal, would you?”

He hears Keith call out, obviously annoyed.

“Lance! What are you doing?!”

Lance smirks turning back towards Keith.

“Asking the locals for directions!”

The armadillo roars right into his ear and tries to stomp its foot on top of Lance. He rolls out of the way just in time and jumps up to his feet.

“Hey, that wasn’t very nice.”

The armadillo growls again while it folds up into a ball.

“Okay, I get it. You’re not much of a talker, are you, big guy?”

Spikes unsheathe themselves from the beast’s armor and Lance nearly swallows a tongue. Yeah, now might be a good time to make a run for it. He turns and makes to start running, but slips on the mud and faceplants again. He scrambles to his feet just in time to escape behind run over by a giant, spiky, two tun bowling ball.

“Keith, Right about now would be a good time to help a bro out!”

He glances at Keith who is about halfway down the cliff.

“I’m kinda busy right now, Lance!”

“Well, hurry up! Being killed by a giant armadillo is not really what I had planned for today!”

Lance takes out his bayard and takes a quick shot at the ball, the laser blast bounces right off and into the side of the cliff next to Keith. Out of the cloud of dust and rubble Keith’s body free falls limp. Oh shit. Lance, at this point no longer caring about the beast that had been attacking him makes a run to try and catch Keith. He sprints along the edge of the cliff, out of the pool of mud, and just makes it to Keith, catching him in a leap. He cradles Keith in his lap, looking him over, checking for injuries.

“Keith? Buddy? Are you alright?” Lance voices with concern.

Keith coughs slightly and opens his eyes. “Watch where you shoot, asshole.”

“How was I supposed to know that my shot would bounce off his armor? Speaking of which we better-”

Lance glances back behind him and the armadillo is gone. He continues to glance around confused.

“Where did it go?”

Lance turns his head side to side, frantically searching for the alien beast.

“Probably back to its nest.”

“It’s nest?”

“Yeah. It had a whole bunch of babies in a nest near the edge of the mud. She was probably only attacking because you were on her territory and thought you were going to hurt her pups.”

“Oh…OH. OH SHIT!”

Lances goes to stand up, but Keith grabs Lance’s arm, grounding him a little. Lance glances at him and his eyebrows are furrowed in worry and confusion.

“Lance what’s wrong? What’s going on with you? Why did you run off earlier?”

“You mean you never heard it?”

“Heard what?”

He looks Keith dead in the eyes and it’s obvious he has no idea what Lance is talking about. Lance hears a rustle in the bushes along with a soft whine. He shifts slowly so Keith is no longer lying on top of him.

“Lance-”

He crawls of to the bush and reaches to push the leaves apart and something jumps at him. He screams and Keith bolts to his side. A sparkling, translucent, pale yellow blob wraps around his forearm squeezing tightly. He looks up to Keith, panicking.

“KEITH. Get it off me!”

“What even is that?!”

“You think I know?!”

That’s when Lance feels something sharp piercing his skin. He looks down at his arm and the blob has pierced through his armor by condensing into teeth like spikes, which are now also breaking through his skin.

“KEITH IT’S BITING ME!”

“What?! It’s a slime monster! Slime monsters don’t have teeth!”

“TELL THAT TO THIS THING!”

Keith reaches to grab it and his hands, but they become immersed in the slime.

“Ow, fuck, Keith, this isn’t working. Pull out.”

“What?”

“Pull your hands out of the goo, bro.”

Keith tries to pull them back out, but they’ve become stuck. Tiny spikes begin to pierce through his padalin gloves.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“OMG, THE BLOB-PIRE’S GOT US BOTH! WE’RE BOTH DOOMED!”

They both continue to panic as their blood flows into the blob. The blob absorbs their blood, changing color with the more blood it consumes. However, as it reaches a bright pink shade it suddenly melts off their arms. It collects into a puddle on the ground and crawls back into the bush, leaving Keith and Lance standing there in a horrified shock.

“Keith, what… what just happened?”

“I don’t even think I even want to know.”

“That thing bit through our armor, drank our blood, and then left.”

Lance glances down at his mangled sleeve shifting it around to try to find a bite wound, but there isn’t one.

“Hey, Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have a bite on your hand?”

“Of course I do.”

Keith uncuffs the collar around his wrist and takes off his glove. He flips his hand over both ways proving each side has no piercing marks at all.

“What-”

The same cry from earlier is heard from the bush and they both turn their heads.

“You- You heard it this time too, right?” The former blue Paladin stutters.

“I, uh- Yeah. What do you mean- wait, is this what you were hearing before?”

Lance nods his head silently. He reaches to attempt to pull apart the leaves of the bush once more and Keith’s hand jerks to his grab wrist. He gives Keith a reassuring look and turns back to the bush. He pulls apart the leaves and branches and gasps. Sitting in the dirt is the slime, but it seems to be sculpted perfectly into the shape of a genderless human baby. It literally looks like a baby made from jello. You know, if jello could move, breath, and cry. Next to the jello baby is what looks to be some sort of ancient metal bowl of sorts.

“What the fuck…”

“Lance, we need to get back to the mission.”

“But it’s a baby!”

“It’s a shapeshifting slime monster that drank our blood.”

“Keith-”

“Lance.”

“... Fine. Let me see the map.”

Lance sighs as Keith hands over the mini holoprojector.  Lance pulls up the screen, stepping away from the bush. He analyzes the map and raises an eyebrow.

“Hey, Keith?”

“What?”

“Is the red dot where the distress signal is coming from?”

“Yes.”

“And the blue dot is where we are?”

“Yes, Lance.”

“So, if the dots are right next to each other then that means that we’re at our destination, right?”

“Yes, Lance. That is how the map works.”

Lance stares at the map for a moment longer before handing it back to a very confused and annoyed Keith. He looks back over at the bush and goes to grab the baby and the metal dish. He picks up the baby gently placing it in the nook of his left arm and then place the dish on the baby’s stomach before getting up and turning back to Keith. Keith is staring at him wide eyed with the map clenched tightly in his fist.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Keith, this thing is the reason we were sent here. We have to bring it back to the others.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Don’t look at me.”

“No, I will look at you. I blame you for all of this.”

“Let’s just go back to the Lions, okay?”

Keith grunts and begins walking back towards the cliff.

“Shoot.”

“Shoot?”

“Yeah, how am I supposed to climb this cliff with a baby in my arms?”

“First off, it’s made of slime, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Second, did you just censor your language for that thing?”

“Keith, it’s a baby.”

“Lance, we don’t know what it is.”

“Keith, do you trust me?”

“Wha- I mean, of course I do.”

“It’s a baby Keith.”

“How the fu-”

“It’s a baby. I just know it is. And there is something special about it. I don’t know what yet, but we need to keep it safe.”

“You… Fine. I can’t believe this.”

“So how are we doing this?”

Keith takes a moment to think, closing his eyes and scrunching his nose. Does Keith even know how adorable he is when he does that?

“You climb first. Use your jets to get you the short distances from rock to rock and I will spot you.”

“Good plan.”

They walk up to the cliff and Lance jumps to grab the sturdy looking hold. Keith seems to be thinking incredibly hard about something before he decides to speak up.

“Why are you able to pick it up when I couldn’t?”

Lances huffs and takes another jump. “Well you tried to pick it up before it was pink and a baby. I think the slime has solidified somewhat or became denser, making it more rubbery than slimy and sticky like it was before.”

Lance takes another jump with the thrusters giving him a boost. Keith starts scaling the wall himself cautiously.

“Yeah, but why is it a baby?”

“I don’t know,”

Lance takes another jump. Only one and two more before they get back up to the top.

“I’m more concerned about the blood sucking thing. I mean, is that what it eats? And what if isn’t what it eats? Why would it have taken our blood if it wasn't going to consume it.”

Another jump.

“Lance, I’m pretty sure it consumed our blood. I mean, it’s pink.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t seem to be digesting it. It’s almost like it’s just part of it now.”

And Lance makes the last jump, reaching the top. From there Keith quickly finishes scaling the cliff himself.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait to ask Allura and Coran.”

“Yeah, I guess. So what direction, Map Keith?”

“Map Keith?”

“Yeah. Like you, regular Keith, but with a map, Map Keith.”

“I… Nevermind. It’s this way.”

They quickly find their way back and climb into their respective Lions. Keith immediately goes over the coms to get in contact with the team.

“Team Voltron, this is Keith. Do you copy?”

Shiro is the first one to answer.

“We read you guys loud and clear. How’d it go?”

Pidge’s voice rings in shortly after.

“You guys sure took a long time. Did you guys get...  _distracted?_ ”

“Pidge stop teasing. Although, she’s right-”

“Of course I am.”

“-it took you guys a bit longer than expected to get back in touch with us. Is everything okay? What’s the status of the distress signal?”

Keith responds diligently and calm, despite Pidge’s comments. “We’re okay. Probably. I’m like 90% sure that we are probably okay. And as far as the status of the distress signal, we have the source of the stress signal with us right now.”

“What do you mean ‘probably okay’? Keith?”

“Can we meet up on the planets moon? There isn’t much space to land down here and we need to talk with everyone.”

“Keith, you’re worrying me.”

“Relax, Shiro. I think Keith’s just going to try to tell us that there’s a baby on the way-”

“PIDG-”

“HOW DID YOU KNOW?!”

The intercoms go silent and Lance feels frozen. Although, he’s snapped out of it when Keith’s voice rings out over the intercom again.

“Seriously, Pidge, how did you know about the baby? Did Lance tell you he has it? I mean, Lance is the one carrying it, but it has my blood in it as well as his. Did you know this would happen? Why didn’t you warn us? This is super serious. I mean, I’m really freaking out! I’m terrible with kids. This is Lance’s fault. I swear, I was about to pound him into oblivion-”

Lance place the baby down swiftly before scrambling to get his helmet on.

“KEITH, SHUT UP!”

“Wh-”

“No. No more talking for you. Just shut up.”

Pidge’s laughter roars out over the coms.

“L-Lance, I-I’m dying-”

“Dios mío, you can shut up too, Pidge. It’s not what it sounds like-”

Hunks has apparently now tuned in as well, because he interrupts Lance mid-sentence.

“Well, I hope so, because it sounds like Keith knocked you up.”

What he actually said was implied by Keith’s earlier statements and for the first time it clicked in Keith’s head.

“WHAT?!”

“KEITH, I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!”

“BUT-”

“SHUT UP-”

“Aww, c’mon you two lovebirds. You don’t need to pretend around us.”

“Pidge, if they were actually dating I’m pretty sure this would still be their actual dynamic.”

Lance rolls his eyes.

“Both of you are dead to me.”

“We can live with that.”

“Speak for yourself, Pidge. Lance is my best friend-”

“Sadly.”

“I can hear you, you know?!”

Shiro clears his throat and the feed goes quiet.

“So, just to be clear, neither Lance or Keith are pregnant?”

Lance sighs and confirms Shiro’s statement. “Yes. Neither of us are pregnant.”

In that moment Jello baby chooses to begin crying. Loud and echoing in the cramped cockpit. The sound is sure to have traveled through his mic. He can just see Pidges shit eating grin as she whispers:

“Anymore.”

“You know what? Fuck you, Pidge.”

“I’m not interested, maybe you should ask Keith?”

Shiro’s voice booms over the coms, demanding and authoritative. “Everyone meet on the planets moon, ASAP.”

FUCK. He is so mad a Pidge. He pulls the baby back into his arms and prepares for take-off. It seems that Keith is doing the same thing because he can hear the roar of both their engines starting up. They fly to the moon and land in silence. The rest of the team are already out of their Lions and waiting. Specifically, Krolia and Shiro look especially pissed. Although, the moment he steps toward the crowd with a glowing pink, semi translucent, genderless baby their face all soften and twist into ones of confusion. Romelle points to it accusingly.

“What is that?”

“We were hoping one of you guys might know. We were lost, and I heard crying in the jungle and ran towards it and then we were attacked by a giant spiky armadillo-”

“Actually, you were the one who was attacked, and it was because you were invading her territory. Also, it was more of a pangolin than an armadillo.”

“What? Uh, Never mind. Anyway, then this thing jumped out of the bushes and latched onto my arm! But then it had been like a pale yellow and pretty much just a blob. And Keith tried to get it off, but instead of grabbing it his hands sunk right into the goo and the blob started drinking our blood.”

“Don’t-”

“So, this blob-pire is drinking our blood-”

Keith sighs.

“-and we both thought we were going to die, but when it got to this color it melted off and our bite marks were gone. Then it crawled back into its bush and when we checked it out it was like this and there was this metal dish next to it. We are fairly certain that the dish is what was emitting the distress signal.”

Pidge smirks. “Is this the part where Keith almost pounded you into oblivion?”

Lance scowls at her. Sometimes she can be so immature that he wants to strangle her, but then he remembers that she is still just 16 years old. This is one of those times. Suddenly, Coran is wheeling the healing pod out of the Black Lion. Lance hadn’t even realized he had left to go get it.

“Lance, I need you to put the baby into the pod, so we can analyze it. I have a theory on what it might be, but it’s so rare that I need to look at a couple of things before I can properly determine-”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it.”

Lance places the baby in the pod and closes the lid. He turns to Coran for answers. Coran looks away from him uncertain and pulls up the medical data on the side of the pod. Lance continues to watch, trying to peer over Coran’s shoulder to peer at the gibberish on the screen. Although, Coran is scrolling through the data so fast, Lance isn’t exactly sure if Coran is even reading it himself. Coran’s eyebrows furrow in frustration, as if he is trying to find something hidden in the data.

“Coran?”

“Silence, Number 3, or I guess I should call you Number 4 now.”

“HEY-”

Shiro glares at Lance expectantly, and his mouth glues shut. Stupid Space Dad being all scary and authoritative and stuff. What can he do to Lance with one arm anyway? Put him time out? Go ahead… Actually, on second thought, he’s done that before and it was awful. He rather not go through that again. Allura walks over to Coran, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Coran? Is everything alright?”

“Well, technically it’s alright. Although, it seems Number 3 and Number 4 have gotten us into a whole new world of trouble that I’m not too sure if we can honestly handle in our current state…”

“What do you mean? Is it dangerous? What is it?”

“In a way, I suppose. I believe that this might be an Amalgama-”

Krolia steps forward, eyes widened, and ears perked. “An Amalgama? I thought they were extinct?”

“Apparently not, although not for lack of trying.”

Romelle looks back and forth between Coran and Krolia.

“I’m confused. What’s an Amalgama?”

Allura turns to the rest of the team, seeming to have some sort of explanation ready for the group.

“The Amalgama were a very powerful race, thousands of years ago. They were particularly special because they we composed mainly of raw quintessence. Greedy Merchants and Bounty hunters would track them down and kill them as infants to sell their remains in the purest form, which were extremely valuable on the swap moons-”

“Wait, they killed babies for quintessence? That’s ridiculous. There had to be other sources. Wouldn’t their parents protect them? Were they seriously kidnapping babies straight out of the cradle?”

“Umm… I’m not so sure what a cray-dull is, but the quintessence that could be collected from the Amalgama was on a whole different level than any quintessence we’ve ever seen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the quintessence gathered from the remains of an Amalgama could probably power 6 planets for about 5,000 years.”

The entire group, except for Coran and Krolia, seem to be completely taken aback by the information. Lance’s jaw drops.

“WHAT?!”

Keith gestures to the pod containing the baby.

“So, you’re saying that thing in there has that much power inside of it?”

Allura nods.

“More actually. You see, the quintessence inside of an Amalgama is ever flowing and changing constantly while it’s still alive. Hence, that power has no known limit or end.”

Stars form inside of Pidge’s eyes as she bolts over to the side of the pod. “Are you serious? That’s AMAZING. I mean, this baby is probably the most powerful being in all our current existence? That’s insane!”

Hunk on the other hand just tilts his head to the side and knits his brows together. “Yeah, but none of that explains why it ‘bit’ Keith and Lance.”

Allura sighs.

“And that’s where things get a little more complicated. You see, the Amalgamas come into existence when there is a special natural rift or split that opens and closes between our reality and the quintessence field, which Altean alchemists used to call Quintics. They are probably one of the longest existing species, if not the longest existing species, in the entirety of forever. The original Quintics that brought the species to life happened at the beginning of time, but a small one is created every time an Amalgama has a natural death and its energy is sucked back into the quintessence field. Although, at the same time as the energy is being sucked back in, newer, cleaner energy is being released. It’s so fresh, in fact, that it becomes unstable the moment it crosses over and seals itself off into a shell of sorts-”

Lance cuts in, obviously both bored and very very confused, despite trying his best. “Yeah, okay, this is cool and all, but why is any of this important?”

Allura rolls her eyes at Lance and his rude outburst.

“I’m getting there. Continuing what I was saying, here is a 20,000-year incubation gap in between the death of the parent and the so called 'hatching' of the child. You see, due to that and what I just explained before Lance interrupted, an Amalgama and its parent can never actually exist at the same time. So, as infants, Amalgama find host families to take care of them and raise them. In order to blend in and assert themselves they will take DNA samples from the family they choose and then create an exterior form based on that.”

Pidge snickers, hand covering her mouth and eyes watering. “So, you’re saying t-that Lance and Keith brought back a baby that has both of their DNA and c-chose them to act as it’s parents?”

Lance glares at Pidge. “This isn’t funny, Pidge.”

Allura sighs again. “It isn’t funny, but I am afraid she is correct, Lance. The Amalgama chose both you and Keith and you now have a responsibility to raise it as your own.”

“You have got to be kidding me, right?”

“Not really. I mean, this could possibly be the last of its kind. It would refuse care from anyone besides the family that it chose specifically and if you neglect it you would very well just be committing genocide.”

There are a good several minutes of silence before Shiro decides to speak up.

“We should name it.”

Lance whips his head towards Shiro with an accusing look.

“What?”

“If we are adding a new member to the team we should give it a name. And perhaps one day it will make for a great ally. It’s not like we can do anything to change what has already happened, so we should just accept this as part of our future. Right?”

Shiro turns to Allura for support and she nods along with him. Great. If both Space Dad and Space Mom say it’s happening, then there is no changing it. Their fates have officially been sealed.

“Alright group. It’s settled. Start brainstorming baby names. We are going to spend the rest of the day on this moon so that we can continue to monitor the baby’s vitals and stability for a while longer. Go ahead and get comfortable.”

Lance spares a glance at Keith, who is staring off into dead space completely frozen. He sees Krolia looking at Keith with some level of concern, so he assumes that she will probably talk to him a little bit to ease him into things. Dios, Lance wishes his Mom or his Abuela were there. They would have known what to do right now. He essentially just became a Dad. With another guy. And there was no sex involved. He is practically the 22nd century, male Virgin Mary. Coran was right. This was seriously the last thing the team needed right now. He just had to chase after crying baby noises, didn’t he? He should’ve just sat back down, like Keith told him to do.

“Lance, buddy, you doing alright?”

He looks back over his shoulder to see Hunk standing behind him with a weak smile. Hunk is literally the best. Ever since they first became friends, Hunk has never not been there for him.

“Honestly? I’m kinda rattled.”

Hunk lets out a hearty, exhausted chuckle.

“I think we all are. Honestly, Lance. How do you do it?”

“Do what? Mess everything up?”

The lovable best friends face sinks into a more somber expression.

“No. Lance, you always continue to surprise us. Seriously, just when we think we’ve seen it all you always find a way to keep us on our toes.”

“I don’t know. But sometimes I wish I didn’t…”

“Are you messing with me? Lance, a kid is probably one of the greatest gifts and joys that life can give you. Children are a blessing.”

“Yeah, but with Keith? I didn’t ask for this. Plus, we are kinda super busy trying to defend the universe and not die. I mean, I can barely take care of myself. How am I supposed to raise and look after a kid?”

“With help. Duh.”

“But Keith-”

“What? Do you think that the rest of the team won’t help out too?”

“Allura said it would only accept care from the family it chose.”

“Exactly. And we’re a family. Voltron and everyone here, is your family, Lance.”

Lance feels the heat rise on his cheeks as a small smile wiggles onto his face.

“Thanks, Hunk… You always know the right thing to say.”

“What else are best buds for?”

The team spends of that day trying to cool off, taking the time to relax on the uninhabited moon. Coran monitors the Amalgama baby’s vitals while Shiro and Allura are consumed in some sort of deep conversation. Pidge spends the time laughing and making fun of Lance while Hunk and Romelle try to keep him from strangling her. Keith, Krolia, and Keith’s wolf spend the day inside of the red lion, most likely for privacy. Keith has his own processing to do and it would surprise Lance if it took him a little longer to come to terms with their predicament. Although, they all end up coming together for dinner. They make a bonfire in the middle of all the Lions and sit conversing as usual. That is, until Shiro brings up the concept of baby names again.

“Did anyone think of any good baby names they want to share?”

Everyone in the group goes completely silent. They did need to talk about this, but it’s so totally a complete mood killer. Lance looks around and everyone seems to have shrunken into themselves, obviously very uncomfortable with the change of topic and quite possibly the newest addition to their crew. Lance, who was slowly being driven mad by the awkward silence, noticed that , so it seems as he has to go first.

“Well, I was thinking we could name it Kerby.”

Pidge goes wide eyed and glares at him.

“Kirby?”

“What? I mean, it’s perfect!”

“You mean like the blobby pink video game character that eats things and assimilate them into their own features? I mean, yes that is kinda exactly what happened, but it seems kinda rude- if not just plain mean.”

“No! I meant Kerby, with an E, as in short for Kerberos. But, you bring up a good point too. Now it just fits even better!” Lance retorts.

Keith takes an alarmingly violent bite of his food goo and speaks up, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

“We are not naming this kid Kirby or Kerberos or frankly anything that starts with the letter K.”

“Keith, you can’t just hog alphabet letters for yourself.”

Lance can practically hear the eye roll in Keith’s voice.

“There are a million names out there that don’t start with the letter K. And I’m not hogging it. It’s just weird when children and their guardians have names that rhyme or start with the same letter. Not to mention that having that in common could make her become attached to me and I don’t deal well with kids.”

“Her?”

Keith rolls his eyes again, this time looking at Lance. Well, more like looking down on Lace.

“Well, she is obviously a girl.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Because the species procreates asexually.”

“They do?”

At this point Coran cuts in with his index finger pointed in a ‘I know things because I’m really old and smart and kind of a know it all’ kind of way.

“Yes, but we didn’t say anything about that.”

“It wasn’t that hard to figure out. I mean, there is only ever one in existence at a time. There is a 20,000-year incubation gap. The DNA is pure and unchanging. There are multiples of the same exact species over periods of time but with no possible chance of any overlap.”

This time Allura interrupts with her own explanation.

“While what Keith is saying is 100% true and the Amalgama start off as females in their pure state, as soon as they begin to assimilate themselves with the DNA collected from their chosen caretaker or care takers they go through a period of change.”

“A period of change?”

“It’s sort of like a metamorphosis. They change and adapt, they pick their outer form and they grow up.”

Lance nods, trying hard to pay attention to all of the fancy sciency alien things Allura is talking about.

“So, they pick a form and just go from there like the rest of us?”

“Somewhat, but no. You see, during this time the ‘child’ learns and grows at a rapid pace. They can change their appearance drastically as much as they feel like throughout the process. Most importantly the period in which this all happens would be only a couple of your Earth months, but after that she will function and live and continue to grow like the rest of us in her adult form.”

Keith karate chops the air dramatically, pausing Allura.

“What do you mean by drastic changes?”

“Well, if she saw that Shiro has white hair and decided that she wanted white hair too, she could just change her hair color. Or if she saw Coran’s mustache and decided she wanted a mustache just like his, she would have it. Or if she saw a Galra with purple skin, she could go purple.”

Hunk and Pidge exchange glances. Hunk looks back at Allura.

“But she is fusing with human DNA and humans don’t have purple skin.”

Allura thinks on this for a moment, choosing her words carefully.

“The changes can be environmentally influenced as much as it can influenced by the DNA. She may be integrating herself with your species, but it’s really more of a guise than anything else. A shell. Her existence is practically purely made of quintessence which is flowing, ever changing, and extremely powerful. Not a single cell has to bend down to the rules and sciences that govern your human bodies. She can make as many changes as she feels like whenever she wants, and it will be completely natural.”

Pidge nods seeming to start to comprehend.

“So, does that end with the ending of the metamorphosis period?”

“Not exactly. At the end of the period there will definitely be a lot of features that become permanent. But she will still be able to change her appearance slightly, similarly to how some Alteans can.”

Lance takes in the new information and uses it to come up with a new name for his baby girl. “Varian then.”

Keith glares at him. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“What’s wrong with this one?”

He huffs. “It’s stupid.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, it sounds like math and the 1920’s had a baby.”

“You’re really making fun of outdated things while you still have that haircut?”

“Lance.”

The way Keith growls his name totally makes his mouth go dry for a minute. He moves on.

“Okay, what about Quinn?”

“That’s short for quintessence, isn’t it?”

“Well yeah-”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It makes it sound like we’re using her as some sort of power source or something.”

“Oh yeah?! And what’s your great idea?”

Keith hums quietly and twirls with his bangs while thinking.

“Hmm… You’re Hispanic, right?”

“Cuban, why? Are you about to name some really common Spanish name like Luna or Maria or Esmerelda or Estella? You know, Estella isn’t even Spanish! It’s French, but people just act like it’s Spanish-”

“What about Chela?”

Lance just stares blankly at Keith for a moment. “... you want to name her beer?”

“What? No! It means consolation.”

“No, That’s Consuelo, stupid!”

“Maybe, but Chela-”

“Keith, just... just stop. Okay? I am a native Spanish speaker. I can promise you that it means beer.” Lance states strongly.

“I wasn’t talking about the lit- you know what? Never mind. What about Tierra?”

Lance crosses his arms. Honestly, Keith is doing worse at this than he was.

“Do you even know what that translates to in English?”

“Earth.”

“Yeah. Earth. As in dirt, Keith. You are suggesting we name the kid dirt.”

“Okay, Izarra?”

“That has a Z in it.”

“So? It’s unique.”

“It makes her sound like an alien.”

“She is an alien.”

The literal remark throws Lance off for a moment. It’s true, that this kid is technically an alien, but she’s also his daughter now. And somehow that makes it different...

“You know what I mean.”

Keith now crosses his arms to match Lance.

“Well, you wanted to name her Kirby.”

“I still think that it’s cute if you’re changin-”

“No.”

“Hmph. Fine...”

Lance pouts for a minute while Keith tries to come up with something else.

“What about Mar?”

“You do realize that Mar is an English word as well that means ‘to disfigure’, right?”

“Esperanza.”

This one is not as much of a question as it is a statement. And Keith isn’t wrong. The name is kind of perfect. Better than anything he could have come up with, anyway. Not that he would ever admit that out loud.

“That- that… that isn’t a terrible name. I suppose. But it is really long, and it still has a Z in it.”

“You want to nickname her Esper, don’t you?”

“SOOOOO badly.”

“Fine. As long as her full name is actually Esperanza.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, sure. It’s a bit of a mouthful anyway.”

After coming to an agreement, Keith and Lance go quiet. Although, Lances head is buzzing with questions. Had Keith come to terms with their situation? Were they going to be able to raise a baby together? It would really only be a couple of months, but could they handle it? Could the team handle it? Like, they were traveling across space in cramped lions. There isn’t a lot of time or anything that they would need to raise a kid properly. What was Keith thinking about right now? He had to be thinking about something. It was probably about how stupid Lance is for getting them into all of this or something like that. How did Keith come up with all of those Spanish baby names? Half of them were just plain wrong names for a baby, but he did come up a perfect name in the end. That is such a Keith thing to do, like he screwed everything up, but he still came out on top in the end.

“I’m surprised that you came up with such a wide array of Hispanic names. I didn’t know that you knew any Spanish.”

“Oh, I don’t. I did studies on the meanings of different names in different cultures while doing research for stuff.”

“For stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Very specific.”

Lance narrows his eyes and examines Keith, as if he can find the answers to why he is being so vague written on his suit somewhere. At this point the rest of the team is just watching them interact. Pidge watching more tentatively as she fumbles with a small device in her hands

“I love how the rest of us totally got a say in any of this.”

Hunk shrugs.

“Honestly? I’m kinda confused about what just happened. Mostly just all the Spanish stuff.”

Allura smiles.

“Well, they were the ones chosen, so that does make them the most direct primary caretakers. Besides they ended up picking a beautiful name.”

Shiro nods in concurrence.

“Yeah. Although, none of the rest of us know what it’s supposed to mean.”

Pidge answers nonchalantly while have finally gotten her device to work, which appears to be a holographic Altean book salvaged from the castle.

“It means hope.”

Hunk jumps a little, surprised.

“What? Wait you knew?”

Pidge shrugs.

“Well, I got all the way through Spanish 6 when I was in High School and it’s a pretty literal translation as far as I’m aware.”

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

Pidge narrows her eyes and grins wide, her sassy, sarcastic, waggling eyebrows dancing above her eyes.

“I like watching people of lesser intelligence suffer.”

“Heyy…”

“No offence.”

She lightly punches Hunk in the shoulder and he smiles, rolling his eyes slightly. As for Lance, Keith has at this point decided that any sort of conversation is over and is refusing to talk to him. He decides to get up and walk over to the pod and talk to Coran.

“How’s she doing?”

“Ahh, New Number 4! Coming to check on your young, are you?”

Lance takes in a large inhale, ready to unleash his frustrations on Coran, but instead his shoulders sink, and he lets out a long sigh.

“As much as I want to correct you and bite your head off, can you just tell me how she’s doing? Please?”

“Well, the molecular fusion seems to nearly completely stable and she is perfectly healthy as far as I can tell. The first full phase of her assimilation to you DNA should be done shortly.”

“Really?”

“Yes. At which point we can take her out of the healing pod and continue our journey towards your Earth.”

“... Right. You know, when I left for the Garrison my Mom made me promise not to come home with a pregnant girlfriend. I mean, I would still be allowed to come home if I had gotten someone pregnant, but she was so worried that I would end up with a kid and ruin my chances at a successful future. Of course, look at me now, Ha…. I’m not sure if my Mother would be proud or disappointed.”

At this point he isn’t really talking to Coran anymore. He stares off into the moon’s horizon longingly.

“Would you like to hold her?”

Lance jumps somehow startled by Coran’s speaking.

“W-What?”

He turns to look at Coran who has a fully fleshed, human looking baby wrapped in a purple blanket cradled in his arms.

“Well, I told you she would be stable soon and it seems soon is now. She is growing and developing at a rapid pace, which isn’t exactly surprising. Although, the healing pod multiplied her typical growth rate to twice the amount while she was in there. It made a good clean space for her to quickly fuse on a molecular level but seeing that she is now fully fused all the way to her core, staying in there any longer could become a hazard to her life. Anyway, I thought you might like to hold her.”

Coran gently pushes the baby out in Lance’s direction and Lance puts out his arms, taking her from Coran cautiously, making sure to support her head. For the first time in his life, he truly understood why parents would call their children ‘bundles of joy’. Looking at her it’s obvious that she isn’t exactly what humans would consider a ‘newborn’. She looks to be at least 6-7 months old, judging from his past experience with his many younger cousins. She is warm, sleeping, breathing steadily. He finds it hard to think that this in his arms is a piece of him.

“Are you okay, Number 4?”

“Huh?”

Lance looks up to Coran confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re crying…”

“I am?”

Lance frees one hand, carefully, to touch his face. Surely enough Coran was right. That would explain why his vision was starting to get blurry too. Lance reaches down to run his fingers through Esper’s hair gently. She lets out a small yawn and stretches her tiny arms, hands balled into fists, as her eyes flutter open. She is beautiful. She has Keith’s hair, not the atrocious mullet, but the texture and dark ashen color. Of course, she also has Lance’s caramel skin and gorgeous cheekbones. But her eyes are something else altogether. It’s as if his deep blue eyes and Keith’s purple eyes were mixed together to make a vibrant glowing indigo. The stars above them in the night reflect in her irises making it appear like there is a whole universe inside of her. He almost feels like crying again.

“Lance? What are you doing?”

Lance can hear Hunk talking to him but can’t bring himself to respond. After all, that would mean he would have to take his attention away from Esper and he isn’t exactly sure if his heart would be able to handle the heartbreak that would come with that.

“Ah, Number 2! Number 4 is holding his daughter for the first time. I think he might be a little bit overwhelmed.”

“That makes sense.”

Lance feels Hunk put a supportive hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, buddy. Would you maybe want to share with the class?”

Hunk walks around to the front of him and pauses taking in the sight, he’s sure. He probably looks like a total mess, standing there with red puffy eyes and an idiotic smile and a baby in his arms. It’s probably the most embarrassing looking expression he has ever worn, but he doesn’t have the willpower to even attempt to wipe it off his face.

“... On second thought we should give Lance a couple more minutes."

He hears Keith grunt.

“No fucking way. It’s my turn to hold her. Besides, we all deserve to look at her-”

“Keith, Lance needs-”

“I don’t give a-”

“KEITH.”

Lance can hear Shiro scolding, Hunk objecting, and the scuffling sound of Keith fighting to push past them, but it all feels like it’s a million worlds away. Nothing can touch him right now. He is in pure bliss, Nirvana. He feels- a hand grabs his shoulder spinning him to face towards the group.

He looks up, prying his eyes away from his baby girl, and reality sinks in. He is sniveling and crying in front of everyone. He should feel embarrassed, but he can only smile, nothing but joy overflowing inside of him. He wipes his eyes.

“Sorry guys. I guess I was hogging her for a moment, huh?”

He turns to Keith who has truly embraced the whole red paladin thing, judging by the color of his face.

“It’s your turn, right?”

Keith continues to stare blankly at Lance, unmoving. Lance would usually make some sort of joke about the way the others paladin’s eyes are stuck on his form, as if soaking in the image of him, but instead he waits patiently. After a few minutes Keith comes back to himself with a shudder, the small spark of life restored in his eyes. Lance smiles and holds out Esper for him to take. Shyly, Keith takes the bundle of blankets into his arms. As soon as Keith is sure he has a good grip Lance can see him shift the blankets out of her face. Lance can swear he could nearly pinpoint the moment he became mesmerized by her, the glint in his eyes ignited as the lids flutter slightly and the small drop of his jaw. Lance can’t help but smile, because he is sure that Keith and him are having the same experience. It was only minutes ago, but when he first saw her, she took his breath away. She is a piece of him. Breathing. Moving. Living. All on her own. And she is beautiful.

“She’s… tiny…”

Lance forgets to breathe. Sure, she is tiny, but all babies are small. Out of all the things Keith could have said to describe her…. for Lance it’s a completely unexpected statement. But at the same time, it’s so Keith. It’s so perfectly Keith and Lance can’t help but laugh. Of course, his chuckle earns him judging looks from the entire team but the moment he makes eye contact with a confused Keith his chest flutters.

“Yeah. She is.”

He smiles, and he could have sworn that Keith’s cheeks flush a slightly darker shade of red. Shiro is the first to step forward and try to peek at Esper in Keith’s arms. Keith angles her so that Shiro can see and moments later the entire team is crowded around Keith and Esper. Nobody really says anything, of course no one has to say anything. Each member of team Voltron took one look at her and knew that they will do whatever it takes from that moment on to protect her. She is officially part of the team.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is so much good stuff in the next chapter but it isn't done yet, hence I'm sad that I cant share it with you guys yet. I am working on it.
> 
> Lance: This isn't working. Pull out.  
> Keith: That's what she said.  
> Lance:.... who are you and what have you done with Keith?
> 
>  
> 
> Lance: ITS BITING ME  
> Keith: It doesn't have teeth, Lance.  
> Lance: HELP ME, YOU ASSHOLE!  
> Keith: Nah, I'm busy.  
> Lance: BUSY DOING WHAT???!??  
> Keith:*smirks* Watching you suffer.  
> Lance: FUCK YOU  
> Keith: No thanks, I'm a top. But it you want to bottom-  
> Lance: WTF


	2. Chapter 2

 

By morning the team has made as many necessary accommodations to deal with having a baby on board. It’s decided that Esper gets to fly with Lance and Allura in blue because that way they can switch off if necessary. Also, Kaltenecker is currently in Blue. Lance, with years of babysitting his younger cousins under his belt, has convinced the team that mixing milk with slime should make an appropriate diet for Esper until they can pick up proper baby food or she grows out of it. And Pidge had successfully made a baby sling for Lance to carry her around with. Keith is totally Jealous, in a weird passive aggressive way, seeing as he is still really awkward around Esper. But apparently, Keith gets to take care of her for the time that they are landed, to make things sort of fair. It’s a bit of an overstatement in the sense that Keith still refuses to hold her or look at her for too long, as if he is afraid that he will somehow cause her to spontaneously combust due to overexposure to his presence. Lance finds it equally as endearing as he does frightening.

 

Coming up with the supplies for the makeshift baby dress and diaper was probably the most difficult thing for the team to accomplish, seeing that they are low on general supplies in the first place. Who knows how long what they made will even last either? In all honesty, Lance still isn’t exactly clear on how her growth rate works. He knows that right now she is a baby and that in about two months she will be like 18 or ‘adult’ or whatever. He gets that. But what about all the years in between? Is it like she grows a year every 4 days? Or is it like two years every Monday? Or maybe she is just a baby for the whole two months and then bam, adult. Although, that last one doesn’t make as much sense.

 

“Lance how are you doing?”

 

Lance rolls his eyes.

 

“We are fine Keith. You don’t need to check in on us every five minutes.”

 

He should have expected that Keith would be super overprotective. He almost wants to just mute him over the comms. “Sorry… it’s just really quiet.”

 

“Yeah, she is sleeping. And we are in space. It’s going to be quiet. I would turn on the stereo, but there is no intergalactic music station that we can use to drown the ever-consuming silence of space.”

 

The line goes quiet. Allura’s hand gently touches Lances shoulder. She leans over his shoulder and whispers in his ear.

 

“Perhaps you’re being a bit harsh with Keith?”

 

Lance flushes and lets out a huff of air. Okay. Maybe he is irritated and tense because he has the life of his maybe child depending on him, literally strapped to his chest, and the pressure is eating at him a little. And maybe he took it out on Keith a little bit, who is probably also just worried and stressed. Dios santo, he hates it when Allura is right about things. Correction, he hates when she is right, and it isn’t in his favor.

 

“Sorry, Keith…”

 

“It’s cool. I get it…”

 

“Cool…”

 

Okay, so the two of them have a baby together now and things are super awkward. Not just between them, the entire team has been fairly quiet after the night before. Even Pidge, which is almost kind of scary. If Lance was afraid of Pidge, that is. Which he totally isn’t. At all. Ever. Usually, it’s up to him during times like this to lighten the mood. It’s probably one of his few redeeming character traits. But even he is feeling the doom and gloom looming over them.

 

“We-…”

 

Keith?

 

“We what?”

 

“Uh, it’s stupid. I didn’t say anything.”

 

“Now I really want to know what you were going to say.” Pidge cut in with her usual teasing tone.

 

“He was probably going to say something about how you guys make beautiful offspring because you were made for each other.”

 

Lance rolls his eyes.

 

“He wasn’t going to say that, Pidge.”

 

“How do you know? It’s not like it isn’t true.”

 

“Pidge-”

 

“I wasn’t going to say anything like that, Pidge.”

 

“Then what was it?”

 

“I… was going to suggest that, since we don’t have a radio, we could make our own music, but it’s really stupid. It’s a really bad idea. Just forget about it, okay?”

 

Lance’s face lights up. “KEITH! That’s perfect!”

 

“I kno- Wait, what?”

 

“I’m with Keith on this one, Lance.”

 

Hunk chimes into the conversation. “Lance are you going to-”

 

“That’s right buddy! Any requests?”

 

“Oh, I love Haven’t Met You Yet!”

 

“Wait, is Lance going to sing? Is that what this is? Should I cover my ears”

 

“Actually, Pidge, Lance is pretty good. He used to sing all the time when we were hanging out back the Garrison. He loved to whip out his guitar and make all the ladies swoon.”

 

“Lance? Making girls swoon? You’re joking.”

 

“Believe it, Pidgeon. Prepare yourself for the McClain musical magic!”

 

It’s slightly harder without his guitar and having to remember all the words after two years, but Lance pulls it off, the bundle on his chest cooing softly to the melody in her sleep.

 

I'm not surprised

 

Not everything lasts

 

I've broken my heart so many times I've stopped keepin' track.

 

Talk myself in

 

I talk myself out

 

I get all worked up then I let myself down.

 

I tried so very hard not to lose it

 

I came up with a million excuses

 

I thought I thought of every possibility

 

And I know someday that it'll all turn up

 

You'll make me work so we can work to work it out

 

And I promise you kid that I'll give so much more than I get yeah

 

I just haven't met you yet. Oh, bop bop bop...

 

Halfway through Allura begins to clap to the beat in the background. He is sure that the kind of music they had back on Altea was probably different, but Michael Buble was pretty easy to listen so he isn’t too surprised that she’s enjoying it.

 

“Not bad, McClain. I’m not swooning, but not bad.”

 

“Shove it, Pidge. You loved it.”

 

Shiro hums in agreement.

 

“You were great Lance-”

 

“Thank you-”

 

“-But I think I could totally one up you.”

 

“W-What?!”

 

Pidge cackles maniacally over the comms.

 

“I have to hear this!”

 

Shiro breaks out into ‘You’re Welcome’ from Moana although he changes the lyrics to fit Voltron, which has the team laughing and singing along to the chorus. His voice is kind of husky but smooth and fits the song perfectly. Pidge follows him up with a couple short verses of The Muffin Song based off the ASDF movies because she couldn’t remember the lyrics to any real songs or maybe she didn’t listen to any real songs in the first place. Either way, Lance was cringing. Partly because of the fact that Pidge seemed to be tone deaf but mainly the song choice. Not that it’s necessarily bad. It’s just… very… obnoxious. Keith seems to agree with him.

 

“That isn’t a real song.”

 

“And you think you could do better? You were living in a shack in the desert by yourself for years before coming out here. I wouldn’t be surprised if you forgot how to rhyme too.”

 

“I… I can sing and rhyme just fine.”

 

Silence rings out over the comms.

 

“Aww, are you nervous, Keith?”

 

“Nervous? Wait- you wanted me to actually sing?”

 

“Well, yeah. The stage is yours. You are the one who suggested the singing thing in the first place.”

 

“I’m not really-”

 

“C’mon. Lance, tell your boyfriend to sing for us.”

 

Lance’s heart jumps in his chest.

 

“PIDGE.”

 

“Don’t you want to hear Keith sing?”

 

“... Well, I mean, yeah, but you shouldn’t force him to sing if he doesn’t want to.”

 

There is another moment of silence.

 

“If I sing one song, Pidge, will you shut up?”

 

“Yes... Probably.”

 

Keith sighs.

 

“Okay-”

 

“WAIT-”

 

“Huh?! Lance?! Is everything okay?! Is Esper alright?!”

 

“Oh, yeah she’s fine. I was just going to tell you not to do anything from the emo trinity.”

 

“...What makes you think I was going to do an emo trinity song?”

 

“First, your haircut. Second, because of the loner attitude and personality. And finally, because of the fact that you know what the emo trinity is.”

 

“...Fine.”

 

Keith takes in a breath and begins to hum a familiar intro. The song is soft and heavy, the title stuck on the tip of Lance’s tongue.

 

Wake up, say good morning to

 

That sleepy person lying next to you

 

If there's no one there then there's no one there

 

But at least the war is over

 

It's us, yes, we're back again

 

Here to see you through 'til the day's end

 

And if the night comes and the night will come

 

Well at least the war is over

 

Lift your head and look out the window

 

Stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go

 

Listen, the birds sing, listen, the bells ring

 

All the living are dead and the dead are all living

 

The war is over and we are beginning

 

Keith’s voice is velvety and deep as it dances from note to note. The title of the song finally comes to Lance. In Our Bedroom After The War by Stars. He didn’t really know the song that well, he’d heard it once or twice back home, but the way Keith is singing it is unlike anything he has ever heard. It’s raw and painful and full of emotion, but each syllable, sharp with bite, seems to be far off in the distance. The song is sung in almost a whisper. When he is done the comms go dead once again. Well, mostly silent. Nobody is talking, but he can hear several people are definitely sobbing. Actually, the only people who he can’t hear crying are Esper and Krolia.

 

Although, he is a little worried that Allura’s loud sobbing on his shoulder might wake Esper up. It’s almost ironic. Allura is usually the most composed member of the team, ever since… she has been falling apart. Her cool collected mask is slowly crumbling. Lance isn’t sure how he feels about it. A couple of weeks ago he had been head over heels in love with her. Right now, on the other hand, he still loves her, but he isn’t sure that he is in love with her anymore. He glances down at Esper, sleeping peacefully through the entire teams tear shed, and something clicks in his head. Then and there he promises himself that he will only ever love one girl ever again; his daughter.

 

“Why is everyone crying? Did I do something wrong? Was I that bad?”

 

Confused Keith is probably one of Lance’s personal favorite versions of Keith. He wasn’t quite sure why, but the face that Keith makes when he is confused makes a warm feeling take over in Lance's chest. They might not be able to see each other right now, but he knows Keith is making that exact face.

 

“Relax, Mullet. It was good. Really good, actually.”

 

“Then why is everybody crying?”

 

“It’s a sad song.”

 

“It’s not sad. It’s about moving on from the past and making new beginnings.”

 

“The song has a different meaning for everyone, Keith.”

 

“Different meanings? I don’t get it…”

 

“You don’t have to, buddy.”

 

The sobbing continues for a couple more minutes before the team is able to regain their composer. Pidge is quiet for the rest of their flight, but between Hunk, Keith, and Lance they could fill the silence with playful jokes and banter. They land but are still at least several days out from Olkarion at the least, which leaves Lance impatiently waiting. Everyone else has gone to bed for the night after having landed for the night on another moon, but Lance is restless. His mind keeps racing between anxious and excited and terrified, paranoid, and worried.

 

Lance decides enough is enough and throws off his blanket, getting up and walking out of his lion. Once he is on the ground he turns back to Blue and begins to climb. He used to climb everything when he was younger. Trees, people, tall rocks, walls, buildings, mountains- it didn’t really matter what it was, he always had to be on top. And then there came Keith. While Lance had to climb to the top, Keith was always already there waiting for him to catch up. The worst part was that Lance had never once been able to top Keith. His grip falters for a bit, but he catches himself. Okay, he didn’t mean it like that, why did Lance's mind even- never mind. What he meant was that he has never been able to surpass Keith. The guy has always been better, one step ahead, more handsome- despite that horrid mullet. Seriously, he has such nice hair, why does he insist on keeping it like that? It drives Lance half mad and he isn’t even sure why!

 

When did his thoughts drift over to Keith? Thinking too hard about Keith has never ended well for him. He always gets worked up and wants to grab him and… Truthfully, he isn’t quite sure what he wants to do with him after that. He doesn’t hate Keith anymore and he can’t kill or seriously injure him for various reasons, so he isn’t sure where he is going with any of that. All he knows for sure is that Keith makes him frustrated. His hand grips along the metal edge of Blue’s head and he hoists himself up, collapsing on the cool surface, gazing up at endless stars. He lets out a long breath he didn’t know that he’d been holding.

 

His head keeps spinning with thoughts of Keith, despite every attempt he makes to think about something else. He even tried thinking about Allura, who he’d thought had been Keith’s polar opposite, and he listed all the qualities that he admired about her in his head. She is smart, clever, headstrong, and stubborn. She is an amazing leader. She struggled for years with the death of her people, her family, and has recently been acquainted with another Altean, of whom she thought were all long dead, but she is still putting the mission first. She has always done what she thought was best for the team. Not to mention she is beautiful and kind and her hair is incredibly soft. Keith is nothing like any of that- Quiznak! He’d wanted to stop thinking about Keith. What is up with his brain today?

 

“Lance?”

 

Lance’s heart jumps in his chest, seeming to propel the rest of his body in an upwards motion spinning him around to face… Allura? Why is Allura here? Why is he... disappointed that it’s Allura? Who else could he have possibly been expecting?

 

“Oh… uh, hey? What are you doing up here?”

 

“I heard you go out earlier and I really wanted to give you some space, but I need to talk to you about something.”

 

“Oh, yeah. I mean, of course. Have a seat. You’re totally welcome to talk whenever. I’m, uh, all ears.”

 

“Right.”

 

She sits down across from him, and twiddles with her thumbs adorably. After a few minutes of silence pass. Lance has a feeling that this is going to be a serious conversation. That is, as soon as she figures out how to phrase whatever it is she is trying to say. Maybe she needs a little push.

 

“Princess?”

 

She jumps a little in place looking at him wide-eyed. It seems she had been lost in thought.

 

“Sorry. I, um-”

 

“Allura, just say whatever you have to say. It’ll be fine.”

 

“The mice.”

 

“Huh? What about them? Are they sick?!”

 

“No! I mean, they told me...”

 

“Told you what?”

 

“About... Well, about your feelings, Lance.”

 

Oh. This conversation. The one where he totally gets dumped and heartbroken, because she is still in love with Lotor despite everything he’s done. He knew it was coming, he just hadn’t thought it’d be so soon. He should… He should just get to the point and get it over with.

 

“And you don’t like me back, right?”

 

“I-”

 

“Allura-”

 

“Lance, listen to me! Look, you were right about Lotor. I loved him and you were always so much better than him. You gave me up to him when you thought I’d chosen him. You like me for me, not because of alchemy or because I’m Altean or because I’m a royal. You died for me. You were always right there in front of me and I’ve thought about it a lot. I think that I want to try this out. Us.”

 

Allura grabs his hand in hers and Lance looks up into her eyes. He faces is glowing a bright shade of pink and her eyes are crinkled shyly. It’s everything he has ever dreamed of and more.

 

“I... I don’t know what to say.”

 

“What do you mean? Isn’t this what you want too?”

 

“Well, yeah. But, Allura, you don’t want this.”

 

“What? I just said that I did. I do. I don’t understand. Lance?”

 

“Allura, you can’t seriously look me in the eyes right now and tell me that you don’t still love Lotor.”

 

“I- well, maybe, but-”

 

“And you can’t tell me that you love me.”

 

“Lance-”

 

“And you can’t tell me that you ever once thought about me romantically before you broke up with Lotor.”

 

“I-”

 

“Allura, you can’t tell me any of that, can you?”

 

“I… No. No, I can’t. But I think that I can learn to-”

 

“Stop. Allura, it’s okay. You shouldn’t force yourself.”

 

The tears that had been held up in Allura’s eyes suddenly begin streaming down her face, like a dam bursting.

 

“...Why?”

 

“Why what? Why won’t I let you do this to yourself? Why was Lotor a total quiznacking purple whoopie cushion? Why am I turning you down even though I’ve been in love with you for two years?”

 

“Why… Why can’t you be happy too? Like Lotor and I were before… Why do you have to suffer being in love with me and to have me not be able to love you back?”

 

“I… Allura, I am happy.”

 

“Lance, you died for me. You can’t possibly be satisfied with just loving me from afar. Why are you always sacrificing yourself for me? Why can’t I do something for you?”

 

“Yeah… I did die for you. I was happy to do so too. Allura, I’d die for you any day of the week, but… I think I would die for anyone on the team. I still love you, but during our last battle with Lotor, I realized that… Allura you love him. You really really love him. Yeah, he is messed up, not to mention really really old, but you can’t help the way you feel. And, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, he loves you too. Maybe it started off as manipulation, but he has feelings for you and the two of you are kinda a super alien power couple.”

 

“Are you kidding me? He tried to kill us! He ripped holes in reality-”

 

“Allura, you broke up with him while he was piloting a weapon of mass destruction and he threw an intergalactic temper tantrum.”

 

“But everything he did to the other Alteans!”

 

“Was wrong, yes. In general, he seemed to have the right idea, but he went about it in all the wrong ways. He was, after all, raised by the Galra. Not to mention who his parents were.”

 

“Are you seriously standing up for Lotor?”

 

“I… I don’t like him, but I’ve thought about it a lot. He didn’t have any good role models in his life and he was trying to go about everything all by himself. I don’t think he ever really lied to us either. I just feel like… I don’t know… maybe he deserves the chance to at least pay for his crimes or see a therapist or try to get rehabilitated.”

 

“That’s… Lance, he’s in the quintessence field. We couldn’t go back there to get him even if we wanted to.”

 

“Not right now. Are you kidding? We don’t have time to baby him and to take care of an actual baby and to fight a war. But I think that one day we could maybe go back for him. After everything is over, you know? I’m sure that we could find a way.”

 

“It would be easier if I just moved onto someone else.”

 

“Maybe. But I saw the way that you two looked at each other. That kind of love is once maybe twice in a lifetime. It wasn’t puppy-dog love. And it was different from the way you looked at Shiro when you used to have a crush on him.”

 

She stiffens.

 

“What? No. I didn’t have a crush- Shiro? Are you-? No.”

 

“Allura.”

 

“...How did you know? Was it that obvious?”

 

“No, not really. I think it’s probably just easier to pick up on when somebody has a crush on someone else when you’re crushing on the somebody.”

 

Allura giggles, tears beginning to dry. Lance can’t help but smile.

 

“I suppose in some senses you’re correct. So, what are you going to do then?”

 

“I… I’m going to focus on Esper. I think that channeling all of my love towards her will be good for me.”

 

“I agree. Is she what you were thinking about when you came up here earlier?”

 

“Uh, Honestly? No, not really.”

 

“Really? What were you thinking about.”

 

“Just... just stupid Keith and how annoying he is.”

 

“Are you upset that you have to share Esper with him?”

 

“What? No. Not really. He’ll probably make an okay dad.”

 

“Isn’t he a bit… emotionally unavailable?”

 

“Keith? Honestly, Keith is probably almost as emotional as Hunk. Keith just bottles all his emotions up and lets them fester. It’s not exactly healthy, but he is always scared that people are going to judge him for feeling things so instead, he is just a little ball of anger. Although, when he loosens up a bit he can be really fun. Like, you rarely ever see the guy smile but when he does it’s… it kinda takes your breath away every time.”

 

“I see. And you find that frustrating?”

 

“I find the fact that he hides himself away frustrating, yeah. He is so stubborn about it, too. He’s smart, but sometimes I think he might be too headstrong for his own good. And he thinks that he is so clever and sly and that nobody knows how he truly feels.”

 

“Do you think that him bottling his emotions all the time is really such a bad thing?”

 

“I mean, there are some scenarios where you have to keep everything together and bottle it. Like with how when we found out Shiro was a clone, he was worried and heartbroken, but he left Shiro at the castle and piloted the black lion. He put aside something that was really important to him and did what was best for the team. But after that, he has yet to express any sort of emotion towards that event. He seemed a little worried as Shiro died, but there wasn’t anything… beyond that. It seems he has cut all of his emotions relating to that event off completely. He doesn’t have to talk to me, but he needs to talk to someone…”

 

“Maybe he’ll talk to Krolia about it.”

 

“Krolia? I know that she is technically his mom, but they kinda just met. Yes, they spent two years in the magical space-time warp thing bonding, but they have both been very mission orientated. What if Keith doesn’t have a deep enough bond with her to talk about it? He usually talks to Shiro, but he can’t talk to Shiro about it because then Shiro would feel bad for making Keith feel that way.”

 

“If you’re so worried about how he feels all the time why do you tease him all the time?”

 

“Tease him? It’s just light banter- well, most of the time it is. And I don’t really ever try to say anything that’d really actually hurt his feelings.”

 

“But you always make negative remarks about the way he looks-”

 

“-His mullet. His mullet is the only part of him that I make remarks about. It’s literally his one physical flaw and the worst part is that he rocks it. How can someone have such an atrocious haircut and still manage to be _THAT_ attractive?”

 

“Attractive?”

 

“Yeah. All the girls back at the Garrison used to fawn over him endlessly. He could have had any girl he wanted, but he was always the bad boy loner. Although, that just made him even more popular. He literally can’t go wrong. Ever. At anything. Sure, he makes mistakes, but he always comes out on top in the end. It’s just kinda Keith’s thing. It drives me up the quiznacking walls!”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Yeah, it is. You know, there was this rumor back in school that he had a crush on this girl Taylor in our class? She was really pretty too. I remember that she would always go out of her way to talk to him and that she would bring him little gifts and stuff. I think she was just waiting for him to ask her out because the whole school knew that he liked her and that she was totally into him. But he never did. What kind of a guy does that? It broke her heart and really pissed me off.”

 

Allura nods with a small smile. She tilts her head.

 

“Do you think about this stuff, you know, like about Keith a lot?”

 

“I try not to. I get really worked up every time I do, but sometimes I just… sometimes I get into the headspace and can’t get out. I’ve gotten better at dealing with it, for the sake of Voltron, obviously.”

 

“I see.”

 

I turn to Allura confused. She is looking up at the stars, the light reflecting off Blue seeming to engulf her in the universe.

 

“Huh?”

 

“It’s nothing. Just… Lance?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You were right when you said we weren’t meant to be together. But just because you’re choosing not to have a romantic relationship with me doesn’t mean that you should cut your heart off from romantic love completely. I think the perfect person is out there, waiting for you, right around the corner.”

 

Lance scoffs. “Well if you could give me her name, that’d be great. I’m really not in the mood to go looking for her anymore.”

 

“Well then, I guess he’ll just have to come and find you this time.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“What?”

 

“Did you say he’ll or she’ll?”

 

“Lance, what do you think I said?”

 

“Right. Of course. Sorry. I just heard you wrong.”

 

Allura hums complacently. They continue to sit on top of Blue, stargazing, for several minutes before deciding to attempt to sleep once more. Lance crashes as soon as he hits the pile of blankets he had been using as a bed on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith(to Shiro and Krolia): Are you sure it won't explode if I touch it?  
> Shiro: Keith, babies don't explode.  
> Krolia: Actually, there are several species across the known universe whose offspring do spontaneously combust if subjected to specific conditions. I asked your father the same thing when I first had you and he said that human babies do not explode.  
> Keith:... So it won't explode?  
> Shiro: Even Krolia just said that human babies don't explode-  
> Krolia: But this baby isn't entirely human and I don't know anything about Amalgama, so I would suggest you proceed with a high level of caution.  
> Shiro: Krolia, I don't think-  
> Keith: So the baby is going to explode?  
> Shiro: no-  
> Krolia: There is a possibility, so lets just be safe and say, yes.  
> Shiro: Sto-  
> Keith: The baby is going to explode?  
> Krolia: Yes.  
> Keith: *Starts bawling*  
> Shiro: *facepalms*
> 
> Lance: From now on I will never love a woman again. Besides my daughter.  
> Pidge: Sooo, you're just confirming you're bisexual, right?  
> Lance: What? NO. I mean, I'm not.  
> Hunk: Dude, no offense, but you have three diaries dedicated to Keith's mullet. If that doesn't scream raging bisexual, then I don't know what does.  
> Lance: SHuT uP HuNK
> 
> THE WORST PART WAS LANCE HAD NEVER ONCE BEEN ABLE TO TOP KEITH.
> 
> Lance: Like, you rarely ever see the guy smile but when he does it's.... it kinda takes your breath away every time.  
> Lance: How can someone have such an atrocious haircut and STILL manage to be THAT attractive?  
> Allura: Okay, you're gay for Keith, I get it. Calm yo ass down and reject me like a normal person.  
> Lance: What?  
> Allura: Titties.  
> Lance: Oh, okay. That makes sense.
> 
> Lance: ALL BI MYYSEEEEELLLLFFFFF

**Author's Note:**

> There is so much good stuff in the next chapter but it isn't done yet, hence I'm sad that I cant share it with you guys yet. I am working on it.
> 
> Lance: This isn't working. Pull out.  
> Keith: That's what she said.  
> Lance:.... who are you and what have you done with Keith?
> 
>  
> 
> Lance: ITS BITING ME  
> Keith: It doesn't have teeth, Lance.  
> Lance: HELP ME, YOU ASSHOLE!  
> Keith: Nah, I'm busy.  
> Lance: BUSY DOING WHAT???!??  
> Keith:*smirks* Watching you suffer.  
> Lance: FUCK YOU  
> Keith: No thanks, I'm a top. But it you want to bottom-  
> Lance: WTF


End file.
